According to media coverage, Justin Welch strangled 30-year-old Elisha Henson "when he learned she had HIV after she gave him oral sex."

"This news is sickening, devastating, and heartbreaking to women living with HIV," says PWN-USA Executive Director Naina Khanna. "Not only does it reveal the lack of value placed on the lives of women with HIV; it also shows that ignorance and misinformation about how HIV is and is not transmitted are quite literally deadly. The risk of a man acquiring HIV by receiving oral sex from a woman is so vanishingly low as to be virtually impossible."

"This is a travesty," says Venita Ray, an advocate and woman living with HIV in Houston, Texas. "After Cicely's murder, women in Texas were already afraid to disclose their HIV status. Now this? Stigma is literally killing women, more than 30 years into this epidemic."

Although these two cases have received a high level of media attention, we know that violence in the lives of women with HIV is all too common. A survey conducted by PWN-USA last year found that 72% of respondents were survivors of intimate partner violence. Large studies have shown that women living with HIV suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at rates five times higher than the general population of U.S. women, and experience various types of lifetime abuse at two to six times the national rate.

Our hearts and our prayers go out to Elisha Henson's loved ones. We stand with Elisha and all women living with HIV who face stigma, discrimination, and violence in its many forms. But equally important, we fight for solutions. If Justin Welch had known it was impossible to acquire HIV by receiving oral sex, would he have killed? Comprehensive, accurate sex education is desperately needed, reduces risk of unwanted pregnancy and transmission of sexually transmitted infections — and as we see in this instance, can literally save lives.

Ignorance is not bliss. It is deadly. We must do better.

On behalf of women living with HIV who face violence and even death due to misinformation and ignorance, PWN-USA recommends the following calls to action:

Support the repeal of laws that criminalize HIV status: These laws are frequently based on outdated understandings and unfounded fears of HIV transmission risks. They do not prevent HIV transmission or promote public health, but instead foster environments of hostility and brutality toward people living with HIV.

Encourage responsible reporting by the media of Elisha Henson's tragic murder and other cases involving people living with HIV: Coverage should be based on up-to-date knowledge of HIV transmission, must not portray people with HIV as predatory or irresponsible, and must uphold the human rights and dignity of people living with HIV.

We grieve for Elisha, and we will fight until violence in the lives of all women with HIV comes to an end.

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HIV is not that much murder as people who are turn their face from the person who have HIV esp. on women, and they forget that the most causes is violence against women. The un equal position on their lives brings them on women's postive status. Still this problem is alive through the world. Discussing together is the best way to solve the problem, and brings women to the public in order to get the chance of braveness. Creating group forum in discussing on different issues on HIV in order to cancle it from women's life esp. I want to get the chance of participating the like forum with women in the problem like me. I am not that much brave to disclose myself to the public even to my families and relatives. but not that much secure my self from my treatment. I have the capacity to fight against the issue of HIV with my best group. There fore, if there is workshop, conference and like pls. invite me.